Got Prayer Burnout?

A couple of years ago a friend asked me to agree with him in prayer about something. At that time the Lord laid four scriptures on my heart to stand on. And although my friend has seen some improvement, things are not where they should be.  

Last week, his need came up in my spirit again and the only way I can describe the feeling I had was to call it “prayer burnout”.  Sort of like this…What good is this doing? It’s been YEARS and he really hasn't seen much happen. I know you love this person, Lord, but this feels like we are trying to push a boulder off of a cliff. And before you ask, yes, the word is clear on the matter--what he is believing for is the will of God.

I thought for a moment of all the times we prayed together and quoted Matthew 18:19, “Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” Yet I still had this brick wall right in front of me covered with graffiti that read, “Ain’t gonna happen.”

Then the Holy Spirit did what He does best--He began to reveal. “You are praying and confessing the right words--the specific words I showed you. But instead of putting your faith in THE WORD, you are peeking at the situation to see if the Word is working...your faith is in what you see. ”  I realized it was a nice way of saying that because it has been a lengthy battle, I had been pulled over to the dark side of trusting in what I saw, or in this case, what I didn’t see. Ut oh…

He continued,  “The Name of Jesus is above every other name.” I agreed. Yes, of course! Philippians 2:9, Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name. He continued, “Yet David said in Psalm 138:2, ‘For You have MAGNIFIED YOUR WORD ABOVE ALL YOUR NAME.’” Every fiber of my being stood at attention.

“You should not be believing, praying and confessing the Word, then looking at the circumstance to see if my Word is true, if it is working or if it can be trusted. PUT YOUR TRUST IN THE WORD ALONE. IT IS THE HIGHEST AUTHORITY.”

What a rock solid place for trust to rest. It takes ALL the pressure off. Trust should be in and on the Word regardless of what we see. And the beauty of it, this revelation was only asking me to make a small adjustment on the inside. To make a decision to shift my trust back to the Word of God. Done.

That afternoon I shared this with my friend as I knew he was caught in the same trap. A few hours later I saw him again and he talked like a completely different person. The transformation was remarkable. When a person responds to a Holy Spirit directed change, the change in circumstances is not far behind.

If you are anxious today over a prayer that seems like it will never be answered, let me leave you with this story. Jesus commended a centurion who asked Him to “speak the word only” and he knew his servant would be healed. The centurion’s trust in the word amazed Jesus. Jesus made it a model for us all.  And the sick servant...the change was immediate.